Lol nope Van I delivered that one, the last one I sold I told the guy cash he took it like I was saying cash as in 100 dollar bills try getting that into a bank they look at you like a dope dealer

Your mistake was putting it in the bank. I had a couple of farm supply customers that insisted on paying in real cash. (And a couple more that I insisted they pay in real cash.)

Back to Bill's bus - the consensus is clear Bill but in this market .................... who knows. Character, capacity and collateral - that's what the bankers look for. Sometimes (like now) they seem focussed solely on collateral but a few years ago they were singing the praise of capacity and they always look for character. So if you decide to carry the note do what the banks do:- confirm his income - talk to his boss, find out if he's about to get laid off- look at his financials and confirm whatever he tells you. Get a privacy release signed so you can talk to his banker. They won't tell you much but they can tell you if he pays his loans on time, carries credit card balances, the longer you talk to them the more they'll let slip.- ask for a co-signer. Maybe his pa or his brother will co-sign. He might say "no" but it won't hurt to ask- tie the paper up solid - go apply for a car loan, turn it down and keep a copy of the paper.

And remember - you're just going to pee the money away on a boat anyway so what difference does it make if he doesn't pay? You'll likely be money ahead in the long run.

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R.J.(Bob) EvansUsed to be 1981 Prevost 8-92, 10 spdCurrently busless (and not looking)My websiteOur weblogSimply growing older is not the same as living.

Has anyone ever sold their bus and carried the note? How did it work out?

I purchased a bus with payments once. I knew the seller and everything worked out good for both of us. I would be very reluctant to sell to anyone I did not know and some that I do know. If you decide to go through with financing the bus, ask yourself what you will do if he never pays you and the bus is destroyed. You would have little recourse and no money or bus. If you can live with that possible outcome, then finance it. If not, then I would either sell the bus at a lower cash price or let it be a huge garden gnome.

I think it would highly depend on your gut feeling towards the person you are considering carrying a note for. Only you know the circumstances of the situation and what you're willing to risk to find a win/win deal here.

RV loans in general are very difficult to obtain right now. We have friends trying to hit the road full time, who have otherwise great credit & verifiable home address & ample income, who are being turned down by countless financial institutions. And if you're already full time without a physical home base, forget about it. So unless one is able to obtain an unsecured personal loan or against some other collateral, it will be difficult for them to come up with alternate financing.

We have some dear friends who were in this position when they went to buy their RV. They eventually found someone who needed to sell their motorhome, but it had a loan against it. They were able to work out a 'wrap around loan' on in, in which our friends took over the payments and liability for the rig, and will gain ownership when the note is paid off. For 3 years now, they've paid on time every time. There are good people in the world who live up to their word, and unfortunately - there are those who don't. The trick is figuring out who is who, and what you're willing to risk yourself.

Bob way up North, what did you mean by "tie the paper up solid - go apply for a car loan, turn it down and keep a copy of the paper."

Well you could hire a liar to draft the paper but companies like GMAC or your local bank have already done all the work to draw up the paper. I'm not telling you to photocopy somebody else's paper but ................

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If he doesn't pay, I go find the bus and bring it home. Yep I little bit of a problem, with where I work, but that's what they make airplanes for.

That sounds easy when you say it fast but its not quite that simple. Make sure you know up front what the law is where you live. I only ever had to do one hostile repossession and on that occasion my lawyer told me "I don't want to know about it until the equipment is back in your yard because up to that point its theft" (and I'd be the thief despite the fact I was getting my own equipment back.) Of course I could have gone to court, got a judgement, then got a sherriff and gone looking for the equipment but along the way I'd have been bleeding dollars and time. There are shortcuts and they work fine as long as you don't get caught. YMMV

Your point about being the 1st pay on the insurance is a great idea and you can write that into the contract so that failure to insure constitutes default. Then you'll need to require annual confirmation of insurance and at least where I am you'd want to have the right to contact the insurer directly to confirm insurance.

I also know a dealer who is into bikes. Evidently he met some effective collection agents through his biking contacts but again that's probably something you don't want to discuss in an open forum.

« Last Edit: October 20, 2012, 07:26:14 PM by bobofthenorth »

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R.J.(Bob) EvansUsed to be 1981 Prevost 8-92, 10 spdCurrently busless (and not looking)My websiteOur weblogSimply growing older is not the same as living.

It is very hard to trust people now days. But......our first bus we bought from someone on terms, with a small down payment. Pd it off pretty quick, but, thank goodness he took a chance on us. Now, on the flip side, we had people who wanted to buy that bus from us when we sold it, and carry the note. We were not willing to do that, as we had a trust issue with the couple of people who wanted to do it. Also, we were converting our new bus, and wanted to put the money right back into it. We decided instead to sell the old bus really cheap instead. Great guy got the bus, and we are happy about that, and on the plus, she is still in action, and see a pic every now and then. Times are hard now days to get anything financed, especially and old bus.

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Mixed up Dina, ready for the road as of 12/25/2010 Home in middle Georgia, located somewhere in the southeast most of the time.FIRST RALLY ATTENDED: BUSSIN 2011!

Has anyone ever sold their bus and carried the note? How did it work out?

BillKwajalein Atoll

Bill:

I have never sold on credit. And I am no lawyer. But back in my young and rebellious days, I had a private investigation agency and repo business based in East Texas. Did a lot of work for used car dealers. Their down payment every time would equal what they had paid in full for the car at the regional car auctions. I remember one car that I literally repoed 4 times from 4 different unpaying customers.

I chased delinquent customers all over East Texas and Louisiana. People seemed willing to disappear in order to not pay $300. Amazing! Twice I had guns in my face.

So if it were me, cash in full up front. You will sleep a whole lot better. You might even consider coming down 15-20% in price if he pays in full up front. In the long term, it would save YOU money.

And how do you force him to keep the insurance up on the bus, if he is unwilling to pay you his debt? The bus could become your liability.

And business websites mean nothing. What if there is no real business? What if it only exists on the web? (I have a few million for you in a Nigerian bank. :-) )

Like Ciff with cash money, Bought my 91 prevost early last year and 92 year old lady wanted cash. This lady is worth a few million. I told her the IRS would be all over me if I turned up with a bag full of money. She finally agreed to except a check with her bank after her bank president told her it was okay. Still had to wait till she cashed it. Funny thing was her grandson called me about 3 months later and wanted to know when I was going to pay her for coach. Her latino live in housekeeper come to find out took that and money she kept in her safe. To the tune of a couple hundred thousand bucks. They can't find her. Thinks she in mehico! Yes!

Bill, make sure an insurance policy is paid for in advance, with you as the primary reciepient in case of any kind of loss and/or a theft, get a rider enclosed on the policy, that makes you aware if there is ever any insurance claim payout and you should require both your signatures on checks, allowing you to know if something happens before paid off, this is like tenant rental insurance, not that unusual when you rent out a personally owned home,also make sure you are notifyed if insurance cancels, lvmci...

I once sold a car on payments. The people were honest but it turned out the wife had a gambling habit. Fortunately, they wrecked the car and the insurance paid me off. We sold our last bus for some cash and equipment which I was able to sell. That seemed to be okay. If you want to do payments, figure the up front figure as what you can live with as a total should things go bad. In that case, every payment is extra.

You could also take the down he is offering (10-12k) and see what kind of barter stuff he can throw in. I bought a Honda eu1000i last week for $200 and a video projector I was looking to get rid of, and we were both happy. You can look for other creative ways to make it work.

By the way, you could ask the guy to download his credit report and forward the PDF file to you. That will certainly tell you things like payment history, landlord tenant problems, court and small claims judgements, etc.

Spending or handling cash these days is not the same as it used to be. Spend a lot of it, or move it around, and the bankers will introduce you to some folks who are known as "The National Regulatory Agency" (which is branch of the I.R.S). Like it or not, they are watching you and they are watching your money.